Recent OECD figures have highlighted some areas where Luxembourg is not performing well in curbing climate change, most notably the notorious fuel tourism the country is known for. Low excises on petrol and diesel attract drivers to Luxembourg, in turn filing the state's treasury. The environmental cost of fuel tourism and, globally, transport in Luxembourg, makes up 55% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. According to the OECD, this is the highest rate in all 32 countries examined for the study.
2017 figures also place Luxembourg highly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita: with 14.88 tonnes of CO2 emisions per capita, Luxembourg is classed in fourth position. The OECD average, on the other hand, is 8.9 tonnes.
Another environmental area considered problematic in Luxembourg is waste: based on 2016 figures, a Luxembourg resident produces an average of 17.288 kilograms of waste, topped only by inhabitants of Estonia and Finland.
The OECD also outlined that Luxembourg consumes the most raw materials per capita with an average of 101.67 tonnes per person. This is almost four times the OECD average.
The report also explored the impact of urbanisation, which ranked Luxembourg in third. 8.29% of Luxembourg's surface is covered by buildings and only Belgium (15.37%) and the Netherlands (16.96%) are ahead of the Grand Duchy. The OECD average of urbanisation lays at 1.2%. It is quite likely that Luxembourg's small size skews the figures, but it remains an issue nevertheless.
Finally, Luxembourg's average for air pollution, measured by nitrogen oxide emissions, is nine kilograms above the OECD average.
